Automated banking machines are well known in the prior art. Automated banking machines include transaction conducting machines which can be used to perform transactions which have financial consequences to a user and/or other persons or entities. For example, automated banking machines may include devices for purchasing goods or services, devices for dispensing items of value such as vouchers, tickets, checks, notes, or currency, as well as automated teller machines, which may dispense cash or notes and which in some cases may be used to accept deposits, transfer funds, and conduct other types of banking or financial transactions.
In many types of automated banking machines, including automated teller machines (ATMs), it is common to include a journal printer inside the machine. The function of the journal printer is to make a paper record of each transaction that has been conducted at the ATM. This enables the institution that operates the ATM to verify its electronic records and to reconstruct them in the event of a failure. An example of an ATM is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,047, the disclosure of which is fully incorporated herein by reference.
Journal printers typically involve recording transaction information on paper that is supplied from a paper roll. The paper from the roll is passed through the printer where the data is printed on the paper responsive to the corresponding transaction. After printing, the paper is rewound onto a take-up roll. As transactions are recorded, blank paper on the supply roll is used and the diameter of the supply roll decreases. As paper upon which data has been recorded is transferred to the take-up roll, the take-up roll increases in diameter. Eventually, when the amount of paper remaining on the supply roll is nearly depleted, the supply roll must be replaced and the paper on the take-up roll removed. The process is then repeated with additional transactions being recorded on the paper from a new supply roll.
The reliable operation of the journal printer is important to insure that the institution operating the ATM has a hard copy record of all the transactions that have been conducted. It is undesirable for the supply roll of the journal printer to be depleted, as this results in transactions for which there may be no hardtop record. In some existing ATMs, the need to replace the supply roll is determined electronically by storing in the memory of the machine the number of data lines printed by the journal printer since the last roll change. Such systems require for their operation that all replacement rolls be identical. This is not always the case. If the roll is either “too short” or “too long” then a paper out condition may arise or excess paper may be unnecessarily discarded.
A person servicing the ATM to replace the supply roll may forget to reset the system when the paper is replaced. This can result in the automated teller machine indicating that it is in a paper low condition when in fact no such problem exists. Also, a problem such as a paper jam may occur in the middle of a roll. In this situation the technician must start a new roll and reset the machine. This may waste a significant amount of paper.
Journal printers sometimes experience paper jams. Paper jams usually result in the paper no longer moving through the printer. During a jam, the printer mechanism prints data concerning a multitude of transactions on the same area of paper. As a result, the hard copy record of these transactions is lost. Only the most severe paper jams that trigger signals indicating a malfunction in other components are generally detected by existing automated teller machines. For example, if the paper jam condition is sufficient to prevent the printer mechanism from moving as required to produce characters on paper, then a printer fault indication may be given. However, in most circumstances, paper jams are not sufficiently severe to impact the operation of other components. Such paper jams go undetected until a visual inspection is made by a service technician.
Other types of fault conditions may arise with regard to a journal printer. A technician may remove a spent roll and forget to put in a new one even though the machine has been reset. Paper rolls may also have breaks at splices. In either situation the journal printer will become inoperative and this condition may go undetected for some time.
Problems may also result when a replacement roll has not been properly installed. The ATM may be run for an extended time before it is discovered that paper is not feeding through the journal printer.
Thus, there exists a need for a system and method for indicating fault conditions concerning paper movement associated with a journal printer in an automated banking machine.